Frost
by Vampiyaa
Summary: After an adventure goes awry, the Doctor and Rose find themselves locked in a freezer. When contact is forced and the threat of death looms, near-death confessions ensue. Nine/Rose.


**Beta: Miral-Romanov**

* * *

Frost

Two vice-like grips were clenched around both of Rose's upper arms, the claws of one of them so tight they dug into her arm and drew blood as they dragged her across what felt beneath the worn soles of her trainers like a sleek floor. A thin burlap bag was over her head, not quite opaque but only transparent enough for Rose to see light and nothing else. She struggled with all her might against her captors, who made their signature angry screeching noise through the tubes on the sides of their noses and tightened their claws around her arms, jerking her forward so hard her head whipped back and her neck started to hurt. They turned a corner and stopped, and something made a loud clanging sound followed by a whooshing noise that swept a wave of freezing air over her. She barely had time to shudder before the clawed hands left her arms and she was shoved towards the source of the cold air. Rose tripped over something and collapsed onto what felt like a floor made of ice, crying out in pain when her shoulder and head slammed against an icy wall.

"Rose!" she heard the Doctor's voice call out with concern, just before a loud slamming noise echoed through whatever space they were in.

"Doctor?"

She sighed with relief, hoisting herself off the floor and lifting a hand to yank off the bag so she could see him for the first time in two days. Her relief bled out of her at once when she took in her surroundings: frost-covered metal walls with giant chunks of ice leaking from the corners like little stalactites — what was clearly a walk-in freezer — and, to her horror, in the far corner of the room was a pale green alien with his glassy eyes open, clearly dead. She screamed loud enough to hurt her own ears and started to scramble backwards, as far away from the body as possible, only to have her back crash against something soft and a pair of leather-clad arms wrap around her comfortingly. Rose whirled her head around to see the Doctor, skin slightly pale but otherwise fine, and she tossed her arms around his neck with a half-terrified, half-relieved whimper. He held her back almost awkwardly, and at first Rose was confused, but then she felt the slight shivers going through him and she pulled back in astonishment, about to voice her concerns, but he interrupted her.

"Did they hurt you?" he demanded at once, voice oddly shaky.

She shook her head, neglecting to mention the throbbing claw marks on her inner arms. "They just interrogated me for two days. They did the same to Jack."

The Doctor nodded stiffly, looking furious. "They caught me tryin' to get you out on the first day. Threw me in here."

"Is this their prison?" Rose frowned, looking around at it and shivering.

"No." His voice was full of regret, and she looked back at him to see his expression equally regretful. "It's their execution room."

Rose gaped at him. "This is a freezer!"

He gave her a dark look. "Remember the planet we landed on where the only form of punishment was being blocked in a cave until you died? This is the Jakenian version of that. Apparently we've been convicted of the bombing in the town square— didn't bother looking for any physical evidence."

Rose swore, glancing with disgust at the executed alien frozen in the corner. She turned back to him, opening her mouth to ask if he still had his sonic, but out of the corner of her eye she spotted his hand. Seizing it, she brought it up to her face and stared at it in horror— frost tinged his fingertips, making his already pale fingers look blue-tinted. "How long have you been here?!"

"Two days," he admitted, and only now did she notice he was talking as though his jaw was made of stone. "They took my sonic."

"How are you not…?" She couldn't finish her own sentence.

He smiled at her and gave her hand a weak squeeze. "Superior Time Lord biology."

She rolled her eyes at him despite the situation and grabbed his other hand, cupping them both between her hands and dragging them down underneath her vest top. He gasped out her name in astonishment, but she said, "S'either this or frostbite," and encouraged him to splay his hands on her bare back— his skin had always been a few degrees cooler than hers, but her skin was flame on his icy hands and he winced when feeling returned in his fingers. "What d'you reckon the temperature is?"

"Minus thirty-four degrees Celsius," he answered at once, his voice quiet as Rose started to wriggle closer to him, wrapping her arm around his neck and pressing her cheek against his in an effort to warm him.

"Okay," she said, trying to sound calm. "Jack's probably comin' to get us, so how long can we last in here?"

It took him a full minute to answer, the slowly warming hands on her back stiff and his head ducked near her shoulder, but she was patient since he'd been in here a lot longer than her. "About an hour and a half 'til we fall unconscious and then another hour 'til we freeze."

"You too?" she asked quietly.

He nodded, just enough so that her cheek was still pressed against his, and he all but slumped against her, arms manoeuvring around her so that his hands were wrapped around her waist instead. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"Landin' us here. Gettin' us locked up in here—"

"Shush." She nudged the side of his face with hers affectionately, feeling him smile a little against her jaw. "S'not your fault. Occupational hazard, yeah?" He chuckled, barely audible. "'Sides, Jack's gonna get us out."

"Thought he was still in interrogation."

Rose smirked. "Nicked one of the guards' key cards just before they brought me here an' I pushed it under Jack's door. Dunno if he got it or not, but we can hope."

"Rose Tyler," he said, letting out an amazed laugh and tightening his grip on her. "You're _fantastic_!"

"I'd like that in writing please," she said, decidedly pleased with herself.

He hummed happily, before stiffening next to her again and pulling his head back; Rose frowned and turned to him, mouth already open to ask him what was wrong, but she noticed that his eyes were staring with fury at the deep gashes on her arm. "They _did_ hurt you."

"They do have claws," she pointed out with a nonchalant shrug.

"Damn it, Rose, open wounds lower your body temperature faster," he snapped, ripping his hands off of her waist.

She opened her mouth again, this time to object, but he silenced her with a stern look and, to her confusion, proceeded to slip his arms out of his jacket. He then wrapped his hands around her forearms, taking care not to touch her wounds, and then slowly pulled her forward so that they were properly front-to-front, Rose's arms now wrapped around his waist instead, so that her wounds were covered by his jacket and his own arms, which slipped around her back again.

"Sorry," she whispered, shivering at his body temperature and the way his fingers brushed over her sides.

"Should have told me," he grunted.

"I didn't think it'd matter— they're just cuts."

"No they aren't."

Not wanting to argue, especially since they were locked in a freezer and were in the most intimate embrace Rose had ever been in with him, she simply sighed and snuggled deeper into his jacket, trying to hold back shivers. "They don't hurt," she added as an afterthought, just to reassure him.

It did the exact opposite— he stiffened again and pulled away from her, taking one of his hands away and pressing a finger to her arm. "Did you feel that?"

Rose shook her head, fear welling up in her chest when the Doctor looked horrified. "What does that mean?"

"It means Harkness had better get his arse here soon," he said gruffly, pulling his other hand away, cupping one injured arm and rubbing it frantically.

She tried to stay calm, trembling both from the cold and repressed fear, up until her arm started to throb from the Doctor's ministrations. "Ow."

"You felt that?" She nodded, and he said, "Good," and dragged it back underneath his jacket, tucking it between his side and underarm. "Any other injuries I ought to know about?"

"No, and I mean it this time," Rose said, grabbing his arms and placing them back under her shirt.

They stayed silent for a bit, Rose's trembling increasing in severity with every passing minute and the Doctor tightening his grip on her each time. "Rose?" the Doctor mumbled in her ear.

"Yeah?" she said through chattering teeth.

"What if we don't get out?"

She laughed as best she could while feeling like she couldn't take in enough air. "Isn't that s'posed to be my line? I'm the stupid ape, remember?"

"You aren't stupid," he said on a mumble. "Shouldn't'a said that."

She nudged his cheek fondly again. "Thank you. We're gettin' out of here," she added, giving his waist an encouraging squeeze with her arms. "Jack's gonna get us out, and then you owe me a gigantic box of chips, Mister."

It was his turn to chuckle breathlessly. "Rose, if we get out of here then I'll buy you blue chips from Ares I and we can eat them on Celmisia in the summer. And no Jack."

"Wh-why not?" she asked, unable to help her stammer. "'Specially since he's the one who's gonna get us out of here."

"Want you to myself," he mumbled honestly; her cheeks burned against the cold air and she smiled into his jumper. "An' he'll just be making innuendos the whole time," he added, voice laced with embarrassment. "Don't wanna haveta deal with that."

Her smile widened and she snuggled into his chest. "My hero."

"Brilliant, me."

She hummed, whether in unison or in amusement he didn't know, and they fell silent again for another few moments. Rose's shivering grew more and more violent, and he tried tightening his grip on her, but his own limbs were too stiff to do anything but shift slightly. Her voice, trembling and fearful, was what broke the silence, hands leaving his back. "D-Doctor?"

"What?" he said, voice urgent. "What is it?"

She pulled away slightly, holding up her hands. Her fingertips were pale blue and the rest of her trembling hands were covered in crystal thin frost; when he looked up at her in horror, he saw her eyelashes and cheeks dusted with frost as well. "I can't feel them," she admitted quietly.

He swore and whipped his hands off of her waist to cup her fingers, rubbing them between his palms quickly and blowing on them. She cried out in pain after a bit and he gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Rose, but I have to bring the circulation back." She nodded in understanding despite the look of pain on her face. The blue left her fingers but no colour returned to it, nor did the feeling, much to the Doctor's frustration. "Nothing?" Rose shook her head stiffly, teeth chattering. "Damn it!"

"S'fine," she said, trembling as he dragged her back into his embrace. "Jack'll g-get us out soon."

"It'd better be soon," the Doctor said with aggravation in his voice, his grip on her almost punishing.

He was shaking— whether it was from the cold or his own panic, she didn't know. She nuzzled her head into the crook of his shoulder comfortingly just in case it was the latter and said, trying to temper down her stammering, "We'll be fine."

He didn't answer her, but she could just sense the string of 'what-if's and 'but's he was holding back. More time passed in frozen silence, in which Rose's shivering intensified to the point where she was shaking the Doctor as well; it literally felt like her insides were made of ice, the tips of her nose and ears, her cheeks and her hands were almost completely numb, and she desperately wished she had a watch to tell how long they'd been in here. She started to grow fearful that Jack hadn't been able to escape his bindings and take the key card, but she kept these fears to herself, not wanting to make the Doctor feel any worse than he already did.

When she shifted to get more comfortable, she realised the Doctor's grip on her had fallen lax and she lifted her head. "Doctor?" His eyes were closed and his skin was pale, frost clinging to his hair, his eyelashes and his cheeks— he was so still and pale it looked horrifyingly like he was dead. Panicking, Rose lifted her shaking, numb arms and used whatever strength she could gather to try and nudge him awake. "Doctor, wake up!"

He let out a shivering breath, eyelids flickering open and eyes zeroing in on her. "Hmm?"

Tears pricked at her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly with her sleeve, both so the Doctor wouldn't see and because she didn't need anything else on her body frozen solid, let alone her eyeballs. "Y-you fell asleep."

"Not good." His words were slurring together oddly, like he was drunk, and she frowned. "Can't fall 'sleep again— might not wake up next time." She let out a shuddery noise like a sob and he nudged his nose against her temple. "Shh, s'okay."

"I th-though you were dead," she whimpered, hugging him as tightly as her stiff limbs would allow.

He shushed her again, and she felt was could be cold lips pressing against the side of her head in lieu of his nose. Normally she'd be comforted — it wasn't every day the Doctor kissed her, no matter where it was — but the image of him looking like the dead body in the corner was burned into her mind, and if she didn't feel like her stomach was made of ice she'd probably throw up. "Not dead, precious girl." She sobbed a bit at his term of endearment, and he nudged the side of her face with his, a gentle smile on his mouth. "Don't cry, Rose. S'all right."

She bit back the sobs she wanted to utter, forcing herself to calm down. "S-sorry."

"Oh Rose, y'don't need t'pologise," he slurred, letting out a small hum. "You're so strong. An' clever."

"Thank you," she said quietly, and for a moment the bitter sharp cold in her chest was forgotten when a blossom of warmth swept over her at his words.

"Brilliant, you," he continued lazily, as though he hadn't realised she'd spoken. "Love that 'bout you. I—" he swallowed hard, arms tightening on her again. "I— I love _you_, Rose."

Her breath hitched in her throat, and she trembled in his arms that now only had a little bit to do with her lowered body temperature. "_Doctor_…"

"I know s'an awful time," he mumbled, sounding dejected. "A freezer s'not th'best place to say it. 'N' there's a dead bloke in th'corner, which makes it worse."

"I don't care." She lifted herself up on numb, trembling knees, and pressed her snow-chapped mouth against his. He let out a sigh, lukewarm breath playing over her face and giving her the strength to part her lips and slip her tongue into his mouth. Rose had always assumed that, if she ever got the chance to snog the Doctor, it'd be in a possessive rage over something Jack said or in utter desperation after a nightmare, all teeth and tongue and animalistic groans and a certain amount of shoving up against walls and grinding motions with their hips; this one was forced to be gentle and slow, Rose's shivering almost dislodging their mouths a few times. When she finally pulled away, keeping her face close to his, she said in a shuddery voice, "I l-love you too, Doctor."

He sighed again, sounding like the epitome of joy despite their situation. "Oh, Rose."

"Have for a-ages," she whispered, and since she couldn't lift her hands to cup his face like she wanted to, she contented herself with trailing her lips over his jaw and down his neck, wishing she could snuggle into his shoulder and fall asleep there.

"Me too," the Doctor murmured. "Wish I'd toldja sooner. Could've had more time."

"Jack's g'nna get us out'f here," she breathed, frowning when she couldn't keep her words from slurring together like the Doctor's. "An' when he does, 'm gonna shove you 'gainst a wall an' shag you. Better yet, shag you in the bath. S'warm in there."

He hummed in delight at that, eyes drifting shut again and a silly smile curling over his mouth. "Always wanted t'shag you."

"Always wanted y'to." She was suddenly aware of exhaustion sweeping over her like a blanket, and her shivering slowly stopped as her vision blurred. "Doctor?"

"Yes, Rose?" he said, the 's' in both words slurring intensely.

"Think 'm gonna…"

Her entire body slumped at once, sliding lower in his weak grip. He frowned, forcing his eyes open as best he could to see her. "Rose?" Rose didn't answer him, and he tried to sit up, fear budding in his chest when all he could see was the top of her head, completely motionless. "Rose, wake up. Rose…"

His head swam, the cold all but disappearing, and he vaguely registered the deafening echo of the freezer door banging open and a blurry figure diving before his vision dissolved into black.

* * *

When Rose woke, it was slow and reluctant. Her eyelids seemed glued shut, too heavy to open despite drifting into awareness, and there was a gentle throb in her right temple that made her grumble and wonder if Jack had talked her into drinking hypervodka. She tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but she cringed back at once when her movements made a sharp pain in her arm start up. She recoiled at once, forcing her eyes open so she could frown at the source, which turned out to be a taped down IV tube— it had a patch instead of a needle, as the Doctor had once demonstrated, much to her relief.

That's when she remembered everything that had transpired in the freezer and she sat up abruptly, wincing as the throbbing in her head increased tenfold at the action. She reached over and pulled the IV patch off of her arm, making the machinery beside her start beeping rapidly, and just as Rose swung her legs over the side of the bed a frantic-looking Jack burst into the room.

"Rosie!" he gasped, looking thrilled. He whipped his head around and shouted, "DOC, GET IN HERE!"

A loud crashing noise sounded through the corridor followed by what sounded like the Doctor's heavy boots landing on the floor, before Jack was all but knocked to the side as the terrified looking Doctor shoved himself into the doorway. Her name flew out of his mouth on a strangled noise, and she held out her arms towards him, whimpering when he flung himself into the room, tripping over himself in an effort to get to her and literally crushing her to him when he reached her. Jack peered at them without a shred of discretion from the side of the doorway, nodding in unison when they held onto each other for dear life and the Doctor pulled back to rain desperate kisses over her face before finally reaching her lips.

"Finally," Jack muttered with a grin.

The Doctor pulled his mouth away from Rose's to glare at him. "Get out."

Jack fluttered his lashes at them before flouncing back down the corridor, leaving them alone. Despite the bubbling relief that he was okay and the urge to snog him again, she gave him a stern look. "Be nice. He _is_ the one who got us out."

He frowned at her. "How'd you know?"

"I guessed," she shrugged.

He nudged his nose into her hairline, smiling gently. "Clever." His grip on her waist tightening to a near painful level, and when he spoke again, his voice came out terrified and choked. "I almost lost you."

She almost lost him too, and was painfully aware of it, but regardless she shushed him gently and raised her hands to drag her fingers over his scalp. "You didn't."

"S'my fault we landed on Jaken."

"You _are_ a rubbish pilot," she joked, but her humour vanished at his stern look. "Doctor. I'm fine. So are you, so stop worrying. No arguing," she added, when he opened his mouth. "Now snog me."

A reluctant smile tugged at his mouth. "I will. But first—" he hoisted her off the bed, hands underneath her bum and looking amused at her squeak of alarm, "— I remember someone sayin' they wanted to shag against a wall."

"Nah, pretty sure it was in the bath," Rose corrected, grinning as he carried her out of the med bay.

He grinned back. "Fantastic."

* * *

**A/N: I know it's been a while since I last posted (sorry :X) and I know this isn't a Forever and More update, a finished prompt or Lamentation/Commemoration sequel, but life has been getting in the way and I haven't finished any of them. See my profile for more details. Anyway, I finished this forever ago but was reluctant to post it since it's kind of corny, but I just said 'screw it' :p Hope you enjoyed! DON'T FOLLOW THIS STORY. I MEAN IT.**


End file.
